1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally related to microscopic analysis and processing of structures and components of solid materials and more specifically to a method and apparatus for manipulating chemistry of crystalline structures by removing single intrinsic atoms and replacing with single intrinsic (same species) extrinsic (of different species) atoms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has long been a strong desire, and more recently specific needs, to be able to not only see, but also to manipulate, chemical compositions of crystalline structures on a single atom basis. For example, the control of electrical properties of defects in semiconductors is important for the improvement of both materials and characteristics of device performance. However, analyzing and understanding defect chemistry relating to doping and grain boundary passivation and alteration has been for the most part limited to bulk processing techniques, such as heat treatments and/or photoluminescence and deep-level transient spectroscopy. These bulk processing techniques have also been combined with Surface analysis techniques, such as auger electron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). However, such bulk processing techniques, while useful, still leave considerable doubt as to whether the effects of defects on electrical properties of devices are thoroughly understood and whether selected passivation techniques provide optimum solutions.
Engineering of crystalline materials on an atom by atom basis can provide a method by which specific atoms at specific sites in defects of a crystalline structure can be replaced by selected different atomic species and then tested for electrical effects of such changes. When such electrical effects are understood, improved crystalline materials can be engineered and constructed on the basic atomic level or whole new materials can be engineered and constructed.
Manipulation of crystalline structures at the atomic level can also provide a basis for engineering and fabrication of the smallest resolution devices in which switching and other electrical functions occur at the atomic level. However, such manipulation of single specific atoms, i.e., replacing one selected atom with another at specific sites in a crystal lattice, could not be done prior to this invention.